Florida mom uses can of soup to scare off carjacker, police say

Frank Fernandez and Patricio G. Balona, Daytona Beach News-Journal

Tuesday

Apr 2, 2019 at 4:17 PM

A mother wielded a can of soup to frighten off a carjacker Tuesday who tried to take her SUV with her 2-year-old son still inside after the suspect crashed his stolen car outside a neighborhood convenience store.

The suspect and another man were inside a stolen convertible Mercedes-Benz when it crashed head-on shortly after noon with a large delivery truck at the corner of Center Avenue and Sixth Street.

The car thief, who was driving, jumped out of the stolen car and tried to take the SUV. The woman, who declined to identify herself to the media, had stopped at Old Crossroads, 600 Center Ave., as the child’s father went inside to buy some cigarettes.

That’s when the crash happened and the Mercedes caught fire. The passenger in the stolen car was knocked unconscious as the vehicle caught fire.

The father rushed back into the store to get a fire extinguisher and the mother went to get her son out of her SUV which was parked near the stolen, burning car.

That’s when the driver of the stolen car tried to get into her SUV and she grabbed a can of Progresso Homestyle soup and yelled at him to get away.

The man ran off.

Police and a helicopter were looking for the thief but had not yet arrested him. The passenger was taken to the hospital for treatment and would face charges, said Holly Hill police Chief Stephen Aldrich.

The passenger of the stolen car was identified as Antonio Harper, 22, of Jacksonville. Officers found a concealed stolen gun on Harper, Aldrich said.

Harper was already facing charges from a March 14 arrest in which Daytona Beach Police said he had a .380-caliber pistol stolen out of New Smyrna Beach with him. Harper was among the people arrested that day after police checked on a car parked at Joe Harris Park when they spotted one of the men with a marijuana, a report states. Someone had tried to file the number off the gun but it was still readable, police said. In that case Harper was charged with grand theft of a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm and possession of an altered firearm.

Harper was taken to a hospital for treatment and will be charged in connection with the stolen, concealed gun.

The driver of the delivery truck was unharmed and declined treatment. The Mercedes had been stolen out of Daytona Beach Shores on Monday.

Aldrich said police were not chasing the suspects at the time of the crash.